A Distance Fading
by Satoorihoya
Summary: In which Hinata starts to distance and Naruto notices. [AU]


**Rated T just in case.**

* * *

It was a month before high school ended for the seniors when Naruto began to notice that his pretty, little indigo friend was talking lesser to him. He could remember clearly that whenever he got out of class late during lunch, his lady friend would always offer to go with him and grab a plate of food at the cafeteria. Now, she would make excuses saying that she had club meetings.

It was even weirder that every now and then when the crew would get together on Friday after school at Ichiraku's, Hinata would not go. She usually was always the one who went with him when their friends couldn't go. Was something wrong with Hinata?

Naruto had asked his Sakura, his closes lady friend and his best friend's girlfriend about the bluenette only to receive a hard smack to the head and a, _"It's because you're stupid, that's why!"_

Ever since then, Naruto never asked her again whilst his question remained unanswered.

Continuing, the blonde began to realize also that Hinata rarely hung out with them during lunch anymore. Once he looked all over school for her and found out that she was in the dancing room, practicing alone. She didn't look bright and happy like usual.

"What's gotten into you lately, dobe?" Sasuke, his best friend and Sakura's boyfriend asked, as the two walked home.

Naruto kicked a pebble which flew to the street and sighed, his shoulders slumping drastically, "Nothing." The blonde replied, clicking his tongue, not realizing that he was actually angry. His facial expression didn't show that he was alright and Sasuke knew who might be the cause of it.

"If it's _nothing _then why are you sulking so much? You look like you're ready to murder someone." The young Uchiha stated, bumping shoulders with his friend. Naruto looked up from the ground to the male next to him and snorted.

Somehow he hated his friend at the moment. Ever since Sasuke began dating Sakura, he changed. He never used to care about anyone's problem and was always quiet but now, he was almost like a mother asking her child how their day was.

It wasn't that Naruto was jealous of his changing friend. Actually, he liked Sasuke better like that. The damn boy used to be so emo, he scared away half of their friends.

"Really Sasuke, it's nothing." The annoyed boy replied. He couldn't stop thinking about his indigo beauty. Now that he realized it, he noticed that he was the only person she was avoiding.

"It's Hinata, huh?"

Naruto's eyes widened at the name, her face immediately popping up in his head and he had to shake his head to get it out. How did Sasuke know? "What? No! Wha – okay, yes." He lamely answered, sighing in defeat.

The young Uchiha snorted as the two came to a stop at the bus stop and shook his head, "Well what do you know?" He smirked, confusing the blonde.

"What?" Naruto asked, crooking his eyebrows, "What do you mean by that, teme?"

"Isn't it obvious? Dude, you practically can't stop thinking about her meaning you probably feel something, right?" His eyes narrowed in an oblivious way, waiting for Naruto to actually come up with some ridiculous excuse but widened them instantly when the boy just stood on his spot looking dumbfounded.

Sasuke snorted, Naruto was so damn.

"Okay, maybe I like her but that doesn't mean she feels the same back. Especially since now and days she'd been avoiding me somehow." He mumbled, remembering all the times she made excuses to leave and go somewhere else.

Naruto sighed; he never knew he liked the young Hyuuga until a few months back already. It was when Sasuke had a mini party just for their little crew, when his older brother Itachi bought them alcohol did Naruto begin to notice this odd feeling towards his lady friend. He had woken up the next day with a minor headache and when he tried to get up to go to the washroom, he noticed someone was cuddled up beside him.

The young blonde had blushed madly at that moment when he saw Hinata's head resting on his arm. He knew he didn't drink so much last night for him to not remember anything because he _did _remember everything.

Sasuke and Sakura had took off into his room, Shikamaru, along with Chouji, Kiba and Shino were knocked out on the floor, Sai and Ino went home even before everyone started getting tipsy and then there was quiet Hinata who he had pulled into his arm to sleep next to him on the sofa. He was glad she never fought to get out of his grip and so he continued to cradle her in his arm, telling her that he didn't want to sleep alone because he was too cold. That was a lie.

His heart did funny flip-flops when the young Hyuuga moved around a little to get a better position and settled her dead deeper into his chest. She had smiled, he remembered and wanted nothing else but to lean in and kiss her plum lips. Oh how tempted he had been.

"Hey, you never know if you don't say anything." Sasuke stated all of a sudden, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts, "Who knows, she might feel the same back."

Naruto made an exasperated sigh; the teme was only being cocky because Sakura returned his feelings when he had confessed to her two years ago. He climbed into the bus when it stopped in front of them and sat at an open seat next to the window. How was he supposed to tell her that he liked her when she kept avoiding him?

* * *

It was the last week of school and in just a few days everyone was going their separate ways. Sai and Ino had gotten into the same college. Shikamaru and Chouji were leaving town to the big city. Kiba was going to skip college for one year to help out at the family vet. Shino was offered many college degrees due to his excellent grades in school but still have not respond to any of them yet. Sasuke and Sakura were going to get engaged before Sasuke leaves town for college (He was going to attend the same one like ShikaChou). And then there were Naruto who decided going to college in his hometown was better but dreaded it as Hinata was also going out of town to the big city.

Every day, Naruto tried to get the young Hyuuga to be alone with him but fail each time due to either him getting pulled into the office for college paper works or her just simply running away. Then finally when Naruto knew that he's had enough of her cat and mouse game did he _really _cornered her, being the dominate one. He had to thank Sakura and Ino for their help though.

Hinata was sitting down with her legs stretched forward, her high socks covering most of her milky leg, leaving only a small part of her skin showing. Naruto had to shake his head to get rid of the perverted thoughts that he was thinking about, right now was the time to be serious. He cleared his throat, lifting his head up to look at the girl but saw that she had covered most of her face with her long, beautiful, indigo hair.

"Ano –" He started, swallowing the saliva that had formed in his mouth. He scratched the back of his neck nervously and huffed out a heavy breath, "Hinata, why – why have you been –"

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun." The girl mumbled, cutting Naruto off. He tilt his head farther down to get a better look at her face and widened his eyes when he saw droplets of tears falling to her clenched hands.

Naruto reacted quickly as he immediately moved her hair away from her face and pulled her chin up to look at him, "Why are you crying?" He asked frantically, afraid he might have done something wrong, "Are you okay? If – If you really don't want to talk then that's fine with me, you can go." He genuinely stated. He could feel his heart crack a little inside; never once had he thought that Hinata disliked him so much.

Hinata shook her head, crying a little more then dropped her head to get out of the blonde's grip, "It's not that." She sniffed, "I'm sorry, I really am. I'm so sorry for everything. Sorry for avoiding you this past whole month and making you worried. Sorry for becoming friends with you and sorry for liking you."

Naruto stared at Hinata in shock, his eyes never blinking afraid he might wake up and realize that what she just said to him was all just a dream. He continued to watch her as she pour out all her emotions to him, confessing her love to him and crying to him. What was he supposed to do? Why was she apologizing? He should be the one.

"I was a coward, I didn't want to be rejected by you and so I kept my feelings to myself only, waiting until the day school end so that I could I just leave with it. I'm sorry again for telling you this right now, if you don't ever want to see me again then that's o –"

Hinata didn't have time to finished her sentence as Naruto covered her lips with his, desperately kissing her. She froze under him, shocked by his sudden action but calmed down when she knew it wasn't just her imagination. Naruto was kissing her; he wasn't kissing anyone else but her.

He pulled away and Hinata tried to speak but failed to do so when he leaned in a kissed her again, harder this time. His hand firmly cradled her neck, keeping her in place as he bettered his position to deepen their kiss. It was only in a matter of second when the young Hyuuga found herself pulling him closer, her arms drape over his neck and she kissed him back just as passionately.

Naruto hated to pull away, especially when Hinata was finally kissing him back but he needed to let her know through words what he really meant. His head gently rested on hers as he looked at her red cheeks, trying not to stifle a laugh. Had she always been this adorable to him?

"You're really silly, Hinata." He chuckled, "Saying sorry to me when I should be the one saying it. And plus, how are you going to tell me that you like me then just up and leave? We have to get this sort out first." He kissed her nose, making her look at him.

"I'm sor –"

The blonde kissed her again, avoiding her apology and smiled, "No more sorry, Hinata. You didn't do anything wrong. Just one thing, please don't avoid me anymore, you know how much it hurts to know that you don't want to be near me?" He confessed, keeping his eyes straight at hers, "And also, when you go out of town to the big city, don't go crying for another guy because that would make me really sad."

Now it was Hinata's turn to not laugh at the boy. There was no way she could ever stop loving him. She nodded her head, smiling equally with his, "I won't." She replied, and pecked him on the lips which Naruto turned into a full kiss.

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner how I felt, Hinata." The young blonde stated, pulling her into his chest. He tightly hugged her, squeezing her in between him and the wall, "I'll miss you when you leave for college."

* * *

**EPILOUGE**

**-TWO YEARS LATER-**

Naruto was working on an assignment for his last exam before summer break when someone knocked on his door. He grumbled, not liking the fact that someone had disturbed his peace and quiet time, especially when he was studying also. He ignored the knock, hoping the person would take the cue to go away but tut annoyingly when the person knocked again.

The blonde forcefully stood up from his desk chair and headed to his door, grumbling a little before he opened the door with a scowl. But seeing the person before him nearly made the young Uzumaki fall to his knees. What was she doing at his house? Why was she there and how did she manage to come back was all ignored when she pulled him for a tight hug.

He couldn't believe that she was in his arms. No. He simply couldn't. All the times when he tried to make her come home for the summer or winter, she refused, saying that her father wouldn't let her but now, she was home. She had come back to him.

"I've missed you." Hinata stated, her face buried deep into his chest.

"I – I thought –"

"Father let me come. I managed to make him let me quit law school and become a professor instead. Naruto, I'm not going anywhere anymore. I'm staying in Konoha now."

Naruto had to stop himself from crying, he didn't want Hinata to worry at all, especially when she did all of this just for them. Instead, he pulled her away and kissed her hungrily before taking her inside his house.

That night, Hinata never went home and Naruto never finished studying.

**The End**


End file.
